2017. Not a lot of activity on the scooter for a couple of years now - September 2015 I had an operation for bowel cancer, and that was followed by several more bits of running maintenance - ileostomy removal, hemorrhoid repair, waterworks re-bore, 2 separate hernia repair ops - in and out of hospital for 18 months of so, and each time a more prolonged recovery.

But in early 2016 I was (temporarily) well enough and fit enough to attempt a big mountain ride. But at the time I did not add it to this blog, so below is a reconstructed version, and with no photos unfortunately.

Departure: Saturday 5th March, 2016. Carried only a basic kit of wet weather gear (not needed thank goodness) along with basic food-on-the-go. The weather was perfect, warm but not too hot; calm, with clear skies.

The first day was the toughest. Omeo, just under 200km, took 31/2 hours, including a brief stop where I dropped the bike while parking, in front of a large audience. Humiliating but no harm done. Refuel at Omeo then on to Orbost - 165km and about 2 hours riding. Stopped along the way at Swifts Creek, where I had a bloody good pub lunch. All pubs at Orbost were full - some other charity motorbike ride was stopping there for the night! The motel, though, had room, and after checking in at 3:30 I lay down for a sleep, for an hour and a half! What a day! The Omeo highway is brutal really. It is all sealed now (quite an improvement from my last trip along it) but it was a very challenging ride. Wall to wall twisties, some beautifully cambered and some not; quite a bit of traffic, some on the right side of the road and some not; mostly good bitument surface but some not; and many of the bends covered in a thin layer of loose stones/gravel.

The next day - Sunday 6th March - brought an early start (7am) for Cann River. A nice 75km, slightly inland from the coast and with quite a heavy fog - not so easy in the early dim light of dawn. Turned north at Cann River and stopped half way to Bombala for a roadside brekky - cereal, milk, and fruit, plus tea and pills. Good riding, much easier than yesterday. Reached Cooma at 10:40 - 250km from Orbost - and refuelled and had a hour's break. Went on then to Adaminaby (short break and refreshments, when leaving a very awkward parking spot (steep, spoon drain to cross while walking the bike backwards downhill) I dropped it - again, no damage but an audience, this time of fellow bike riders, and fortunately two of them helped me to stand it up again, which would have been very difficult on my own because of the terrain where it fell.  Then on to Kiandra and then Cabramurra where I had a short rest and a cuppa, together with a group of half a dozen Ducati riders from Canberra, out for the day. They had come up to Cabramurra from Corryong, and had good advice about a fallen tree along the road where I was headed.

After Cabramurra, a long twisty descent to Corryong - a great part of the ride, challenging but not treacherous like the Omeo Highway! Arrived in Corryong about 3:30pm, tired but not as tired as yesterday. NO FUEL available! So I had to check in to the motel and wait until tomorrow before continuing! Covered a further 200 km from Cooma, so today's total was 450km.

Monday 7th March was again fine and clear, perfect bike riding conditions. Early refuel, then took the river road back to Albury, with a breakfast stop on the roadside next to the upper reaches of Lake Hume. A beautiful ride but it is definitely the slow way to travel! Barely one kilometre of straight road.

So after 2 full days plus a morning, have covered about 900 km of mostly twisty mountain roads. Exhausting but fun. Will probably not do the Omeo section ever again but at least I can tick it off now as completed!